Q: How did you get to St. Monica’s?

Well, I was living with my boyfriend and he was indicted and I was there and they found some drugs. And I think they wanted me to testify or something, but I couldn’t really help them out. So they gave me attempted possession of meth and they had me get and evaluation and I was pretty honest and so they thought I needed rehab. And I was ready to quit, I was just tired of it. But I couldn’t really get out of it on my own. That’s what it took for me to stop… so… I agreed to come here.

Q: So now, how did your drug use start?

Alcohol. I am an alcoholic. But I would do about anything really that was available. It started, I was drinking, when I was really young. I would just take drinks of my parents’ alcohol and stuff. I just rebelled really bad. I think it was part of my rebellion. I have really figured out why. But…

Q: How old were you when you first started drinking?

Probably six or seven…

Q: Are you from Omaha?

No, I am from Beatrice.

Q: How far away is that from Omaha?

About 100-some miles, about two and a half hours south. Toward Kansas, like south. Straight south.

Q: How did your drug use progress as you were growing up?

I think it was just that my parents drank, and… that was how they had a good time. And… I liked the taste of beer. I had an aunt that smoked a lot of pot. And she gave me contact highs when I was a baby, I guess. So I don’t know. I just associated that with rebellion. And I just rebelled. I don’t know what the attraction was. It was feeling different than how I felt I guess... I haven’t really figured all that out yet.

Q: When did you first become a resident here?

May 10 th. I came straight here from… that…

Q: Had you been in trouble with the law before?

Yeah. Umm… Like driving under suspension, possession of paraphernalia. I was in jail for a week in Missouri for paraphernalia… yeah. When I was a juvenile I got into a lot of trouble. I was on probation. So I have been in rehab- this is my third or fourth time.

Q: When you were picked up by the system in the past- did that result in a rehab program? Or did you go on your own?

Oh no, it was always either my parents or the courts sent me. This time I could have gone to jail instead, but I was really ready to quit. The other times I wasn’t.

Q: Why are you ready to quit now?

Because, from my experience with rehab before and stuff like that, I just, I think it just started to make sense that there was no way I could do it on my own- just quit- being in the middle of it, on my own. And I was tired of it, that relationship that I had been in. The things I had been doing. I was a slave to my addiction. I basically didn’t like myself, what I was doing and where I was at. I think I just hit a bottom. Hopefully it was my bottom. I never want to go back. And I know if I use drugs or drink I will go back, it will get worse.

This program has worked for a lot of people, people with lower bottoms than me. And, so, I want that.

[Note: A “contact high” refers to becoming intoxicated from the fumes of another person’s drug use.]